PARAGLIDER CRASHES IN LAKESIDE; WITNESSES SHARE STORIES WITH ECM

By Miriam Raftery

September 18, 2011 (Lakeside) – A dramatic rescue occurred this evening in El Monte Valley, where a paraglider crash landed partway down El Cajon (El Capitan) Mountain.

Incident Page Network alerted ECM to the incident.  Soon after, at 5:30 p.m., El Monte Valley resident Laura Cyphert e-mailed ECM with an eyewitenss report.  “Looks like he is sitting up next to his glider.  He has not been rescued yet."

Lakeside Fire and San Diego Sheriff’s ASTREA helicopter worked to coordinate a rescue in the steep, rugged terrain.

Photographer Barry Claessens snapped several photos of the accident.

"The first one is right after he hit and his buddy did a fly over to check on him," he told ECM.  "I was watching them for a long time before he hit, but turned to talk to someone for a sec and then turned back to shoot some more shots but could not find him.  Then I spotted his sail and zoomed in on him.  He sat there for about 20 mins before he moved, so we let the rangers at the park know what I had seen."

The victim was subsequently rescued off the west face of El Capitan, Lakeside resident Dennis Richardson reports.  "The pilot was found by the Lakeside Fire Department sitting up next to his para-glider on a large rock face."  

Richardson spoke with observers on the valley floor, who said the  pilot appeared to have injured the left side of his lower body or legs. He had full movement of his upper body, arms and legs.

Firefighters told Claessan the injured pilot had hip, back and neck pain. 

The pilot, 59, was hoisted to a Sheriff 's helicopter and then flown to a grass field at El Monte Park. His para-sail was packaged up by a firefighter who was lowered down and did the initial medical assessment, said Richardson.  "Both were flown off the mountain and back to the park."